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second day's journey, we found only one little pool, l l i e
water flowing from the mountains is small in quantity
and soon becomes absorbed by the dry and porous so il;
so that, although we travelled at the distance of only ten or
fifteen miles from the outer range, we did not cross a single
stream, lu mauv parts the ground was iiicrusted with a
saline efflorescence; hence wc had the same salt-loving
plants, common near Bahia Blanca. The landscape has one
character from the Strait of Magellan along the whole eastern
coast of Patagonia to the llio Colorado; and it appears that
the same kind of country extends northerly in a sweeping
line as far as San Luis, and perhaps even further. To the
eastward of this line, lies the basin of the comparatively damp
and green plains of Buenos Ayres. The former country,
including the sterile traversia of Mendoza and Patagonia,
consists of a bed of shingle, worn smooth, and accumulated
by the waves of a former se a ; while the formation of the
Pampas (plains covered by thistles, clover, and grass) is due
to the estuary mud of the Plata, deposited under a different
condition of circumstances.
After our two days’ tedious journey, it was refreshing to
see in the distance the rows of poplars and willows growing
around the village and river of Luxan. Shortly before we
arrived at this place, we observed to the southward a ragged
cloud of a dark reddish-brown colour. For some time, we
had no doubt but that it was thick smoke proceeding from
some great fire on the plains. Soon afterwards we found it
was a pest of locusts.* The insects overtook us, as they
were travelling northward, by the aid of a light breeze, at the
rate, I should suppose, of ten or fifteen miles an hour. The
main body filled the air from a height of twenty feet, to that,
as it appeared, of two or three thousand above the ground.
The noise of their approach was that of a strong breezef pass•
T h e sp e c ie s is id e n tic a l M th , o r res em b le s m o s t c losely, th e fam ous
Gryllus migmtorius o f e a s te rn c o u n tr ie s .
f “ A n d th e s o u n d o f th e i r wings w a s as th e so u n d o f c h a rio ts o f m an y
h o rse s r u n n in g to b a tt l e . ”— Eevelat. ix . 9.
ing through the rigging of a siiip. I ’lie sky seen tlirough the
advanced guard appeared like a mezzotinto engraving, hut the
main body was impervious to sight; tlicywere not, however,
so thick, but that they could escape from a stick moved
backward and forward. When they alighted they were more
numerous than the leaves in a field, and changed the green
into a reddish colour : the swarm having once alighted, the
individuals flew from side to side in any direction. The
locusts are not an uncommon pest in this country : already
during the season, several smaller swarms had come up from
the ’ sterile plains* of the south ; and many trees had been
entirely stripped of their leaves. Of course this swarm cannot
even be compared to those of the eastern world, yet it was
sufficient to make the well-known descriptions of their ravages
more intelligible. I have omitted, perhaps, the most striking
part of the scene,—the vain attempts of the poor cottagers to
turn the stream aside. Many lighted fires and with the smoke,
with shouts and waving of branches, they endeavoured to
avert the attack.
We crossed the Luxan, which is a river of considerable
size, though its course towards the sea-coast is very imperfectly
known. It is even doubtful wliether, in passing
over the plains, it is evaporated, or whether it forms a tributary
of the Sauce or Colorado. We slept in the village,
which is a small place surrounded by gardens, and forms the
most southern part, that is cultivated, of the province of
Mendoza ; it is five leagues south of the capital. At night I
experienced an attack (for it deserves no less a name) of tlie
Benchuca (a species of Reduvius) the great black bug of the
Pampas. It is most disgusting to feel soft wingless insects,
about an inch long, crawling over one’s body. Before sucking
they are quite thin, but afterwards become round and
bloated with blood, and in this state they are easily crushed.
* Sw arm s o f lo cu s ts som e tim e s o v e rru n th e m o re c e n tr a l p la in s o f th is
c o n tin e n t. I n th e s e cases, a n d lik ew is e as i t a p p e a r s in a ll p a r ts o f th e
wo rld , th e lo cu s ts a r e b r e d in d e s e r t p lain s , a n d th e n c e m ig r a te tow a rd s
a m o re fe r tile c o u n try .